


Only Human

by StripesandDots



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Identity Reveal, Kara Danvers Needs a Hug, Lena Luthor Finds Out Kara Danvers is Supergirl, Pining, Protective Alex Danvers, Protective Lena Luthor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-22
Updated: 2019-02-02
Packaged: 2019-03-08 07:39:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 20,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13453554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StripesandDots/pseuds/StripesandDots
Summary: Supergirl is invincible. But, sometimes, Kara needs to be only human. When the SuperFriends forget that on Earth Birthday, Lena is there to offer comfort, and helps support her in asking for what she needs. Maybe this will finally push them to recognize their growing feelings. And if not, Maggie and Alex will find a way to give them the final nudge.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this is set in season 2 sometime, although may not address the episodes linearly (I certainly didn't watch them in order), so forgive some inaccuracies on that front. And it's really just about Kara's support network; like where were they, and how can that be brought up to par.

 Kara closed her eyes and tried to compute logarithmic problems for her flight speeds and patterns in her head so that the knot of guilt in her gut would begin to unwind. But it couldn’t quiet the last few tidbits of conversation with Mon El, which kept playing back through her mind: ‘ _That’s not why we can’t date. It’s not your job. It’s the way you are.’ Really Kara? That’s what you went with?_  In the back corner behind the white noise of clinking glasses and quiet conversation, she could hear his elevated heartbeat knocking against his chest.

“Well that looked serious.” Alex came up behind her. She tried to the press the conversation, to offer comfort, but it didn’t really help. Kara was happy for her sister, she really was. But ever since Alex had found herself smitten with Maggie, she had been more optimistic than discerning about Kara finding someone for herself.

“On to more important things.” Kara stated, cutting Alex off. “Earth Birthday. Thirteen years since I’ve crashed here on Earth.” Kara smiled and began to ramble through her expanded plans for the evening. Line dancing and cowboy boots and a few extra hours with her sister before Alex went home to Maggie, and Kara went back to her empty apartment. Her apartment on Earth. Earth, where she had lived for the past thirteen years, after spending her first thirteen years on Krypton. The views from her apartment were so different from those from her childhood home.

_I wonder if it will feel different to have lived here longer than home._

“Uh. Well, about Earth Birthday. I know we celebrate every year. But the thing is Maggie surprised me with concert tickets to Bare Naked Ladies, tonight.”

Kara froze, her body falling into rigid lines as she forgot, for just a moment, to make sure she leaned into her stance as if she _could_ get tired holding a single position, as if gravity affected her. Then she remembered, and she was subtly shifting and moving once more.

“Oh. We just haven’t seen each other in a while.”

“Kara, we were training this morning. Remember?” Alex laughed and mimed a one-two-punch, before smiling uneasily at her sister. She tapped Kara’s crinkle with a finger and Kara’s eyes went cross looking at it. “You doing okay?”

“Yeah. Right, training, right, that must of slipped my mind.”

“It’s just-“ Alex continued on with her explanation, her body language stiff and uncomfortable. But Kara could not hear the rest of it. Her control faltered again and all the sounds of the bar swelled up, so that every scratch of the stool legs against the concrete floor, ever rustle of moving clothes, every step grew so loud until no noise was distinguishable from the rest. She took a sip on her drink and tried to tease the sound back apart, sorting them each into their own, intelligible sets. And of course, one of the first things to come back was Mon El again; hearing the pop of the cap as he pulled it from the bottle, and the swish of the liquid pouring against the glass.

Suddenly, Maggie was there. She was excited about something, leaning into Alex to tell her some good news. Alex smiled, and then her eyes slid back over to Kara. Their warmth settled into Kara and helped her ground her focus back on the conversation.

“Is everything okay?” Maggie asked, her eyes flashing between them. There was the start of something sisterly in her tone, but it was also taut with the tension that had been building as Alex stumbled through the learning curve of navigating dating and her obligations to both woman.

“Sounds like you guys are going to have a lot of fun tonight.” Kara responded with a smile, trying to mask her hurt as much as she was masking the slip in control. Usually, it only happened when she first woke up in the morning, or when she was very tired, or when she got hit really _really_ hard in the head. If Alex knew that it was happening now she’d slide into overprotective-sister mode faster than a speeding bullet and she’d be stuck getting escorted back and forth to labs for a week. That wasn’t necessary. This was _nothing._ Just because she could practically feel the words printed on the tags of her clothes by the different weight of the ink didn’t mean anything was _wrong_.

Kara smiled and encouraged them along, and they ran out giggling and holding hands. They were so beautiful together. Alex deserved this. She deserved all of this and more. She didn’t need to be babysitting Kara’s lapses.

Kara’s eyes cast down the length of the bar where Mon El was serving drinks to new customers, with a drink of his own close by. She wondered, selfishly, about what it would be like if he was there when she got home. He was nice enough looking. Maybe Alex was right, and she should give him a chance. And he could be funny. She wouldn’t have to be careful with anything besides his ego. She could hold him as hard as she wanted. And if he could just keep his mouth shut more often than not – Kara turned off that line of thinking. That, that was why she couldn’t do that. It wouldn’t be fair to either of them. ‘ _It’s not your job. It’s the way you are.’_

She slipped her phone from her pocket and paged through her phone to her contacts instead, clicking on the one that read “Lena<3”.

“I’m having a Ben and Jerry’s sort of night. Any chance you’re free to watch a movie?” She shot the text off before she could think too hard on it, and waited on a response. She played through five lives on Candy Crush. She still hadn’t heard back.

Kara finished her club soda and sent a text off to Winn next, and then, with a bit more caution, she sent the same text to James as well.

“I miss you guys. Can we table shop talk for a game night?”

Kara was still mad (more than mad, really), about the Guardian reveal. Why was it even a secret? She knew the situation wasn’t fair, but it was the circumstances that couldn’t be helped. Here, behind the bar, was her heir apparent, using his near-invincibility to serve whisky and chat up pretty women to cover his bruised ego. And out there was James, slowly suffering repeated head trauma as he boxed around with beings who had far more power even if they had less heart, with only Winn and a computer to back him up in case of trouble.

It was painfully stupid. If he wanted to protect the world he could join the DEO with Alex, work with a team that was built to support one another through these dangerous tasks; with advanced tools and cumulative knowledge. But no, he wanted to be the hero not the sidekick, to see himself on the covers of the magazine he ran. But she could put that aside for one night. It was why she had a secret identity after all, why they both had secret identities, to nurture these parts of herself beyond the cape. To be only human sometimes.  

Her phone dinged.

“Can’t, on duty tonight! Maybe next time?” Winn replied with an enthusiasm.

“It’s just, I’m having something of a bad day.” She shot back, biting the inside of her lip at the admission.

“Superheroes don’t have bad days, Girl of Steel! The night is young, there are bad guys to punch, damsels to save, heists to stop, kittens to be rescued. The list goes on. Grab the bank robber by the horns!”

Kara outright groaned in frustration and closed her eyes once more against the sounds of the bar. Her hearing fanned out across the city, picking out different sirens and loud arguments that quickly became an unintelligible knot in her mind. She pulled her focus back into the confines of the bar. Her thumbs hovered over the keyboard, considering a response. She typed out, _be safe_ , and then deleted it.

She sent a text to Cat for good measure, just saying that she was hoping she was well. There would be no chance of a response from that. Apparently, there is not much service in a yurt in the mountain. She wondered, briefly, how long it would take to fly there. She scrolled, subconsciously, through the rest of the texts she had send her mentor over the last few weeks, and finally came to the last one she had received in return. “Was traveling through a small fishing village and came across a bar with a TV. Dreadful service, but caught the news. Pass my compliments on to Supergirl regarding the last fight. She is certainly coming in to her own.”

She thought about calling Kal again, but decided against it. They had spoken this morning, but she had found herself looking for things that he could not give. It ended with them trailing off awkwardly and a half-hearted promise to team up again on some mission in the near future. Lois had been out of town.

“Doing alright, Kara?” M’gann asked, breaking through her reverie and leaning over from behind the bar.

“Of course,” Kara replied and forced another smile.

“Alright. Can I get you a refill?” she asked, pointing towards her drained glass.

“Actually.” Kara paused, and the bulled on ahead before she could think too hard on it. “Can I have some of our sort’s drink?”

M’gann’s eyes flickered back over her shoulder as if she were searching the bar for the SuperFriends. “You sure?”

“Yupp.” Kara popped the ‘P,’ trying to sound more assured than she felt. “I’m positive.” M’gann raised her eyebrow and gave her a look, but poured the drink anyways. It felt warm on its way down. And it quieted the world just enough to keep her centered.

M’gann cut her off after her second drink. “I’m pretty sure I should feel insulted by that.” Kara responded to the Martian’s firm refusal, “I’m only sip past tipsy.”

“You’re good and well into tipsy. And I don’t need to release a drunk superhero on the city when you don’t have your friends here to keep an eye on you. Is there someone that I should call?”

Kara scowled at that. “More like coworkers.”

M’gann frowned at that, slightly confused. “I can get ahold of J’onn.”

“No, don’t bother him. I’ll leave. I’m more than fine to get home.”

“Drink a water first and I won’t,” M’gann compromised, pouring a full pint glass and setting it out in front of her.

“Does J’onn tell you to keep an eye on me?” Kara groused as she made quick work of the drink.

“Yes,” the Martian responded simply. “But you deserve your privacy and if you’re safe then I see no reason to both him,” she paused and collected the glass. “I know I’m not your first choice, Kara. But I am a bartender, I have some experience with this stuff. Are you sure you don’t want to talk?”

Kara paused halfway off the stool, the words warring inside herself. “It’s stupid. But, do you ever have moments where you worry that even if your world was safe again, you wouldn’t really belong anymore? Do you ever feel like you don’t belong anywhere?”

M’gann waited until Kara met her eyes. “Yes, Kara, all the time. But that was a home of one sort, and this is a home of another. And there’s warmth to be found in both places.”

Kara nodded and pulled out some bills to leave at the counter. It was good advice, maybe, but, tonight, none of it felt true. 

Kara pulled off her Danvers’ clothes in the side ally and took off into the night as Supergirl. Now flying, that always made her feel better. She climbed through the sky into the first layer of clouds and cut through them until she was soaked, before popping through the top of them and speeding through the clear air until she was dry once more. The city faded away and the universe opened up above her. She flipped onto her back and just floated aimlessly, letting the slight changes in wind choose her course as her mind get lost in the constellations of the familiar sky. 

Much later, she heard a familiar ding and felt a slight vibration. Hoping to find a text from Lena, Kara pulled her cellphone from her boot. But it was an answer from James to her earlier question.

“I’m not sure I’m ready for that if you can’t accept who I am.”

Kara broke back through the low side of the clouds before she even realized she was dropping. She quickly adjusted course and righted herself before she could fall into, or through, any structure. She shook her head and looked around to find that she had floated to the center of the business district, and had fallen right in front of the L-Corp tower. Almost out of habit, she found herself floating over. She settled onto the balcony in front of Lena’s dark office, her legs kicked over the edge, swinging back and forth over the empty air. She sighed as she looked out onto her city. It was as beautiful as the night sky. She tried to remind herself, e _very person here is their own beautiful world that is worth protecting_.

 

 

 

Lena was having a great, borderline excellent (but not quite), day. Or was it night now? The shareholder meeting had been at ten – and it had gone fantastic. Better than expected. And with only the most minor incidents of covert sexism (really, what more can you ask for?). And the results ensured that she wouldn’t be losing much more sleep over their confidence for the next quarter at least. That would be a relief. She’d be able to breathe easier, maybe even find time to read a book. Maybe she could accept one of those open invitations to Kara’s game nights.

And what a great lab session! In the middle of the shareholder’s meeting she was simply struck with a fabulous idea, and could not help but to sketch it out on the back of her agenda. And the meeting had gone so well (again, fantastic. And Lena doesn’t use that term lightly), that she hadn’t felt any guilt about leaving her heels and her purse by her desk and changing into sneakers that clashed horribly with her skirt but were better suited to the basement lab facility. She couldn’t have gotten started much later than 1:00 (even with the working lunch, the meeting had resolved itself in an amazingly short period of time). Surely it was still daytime. She couldn’t have spent _that_ long in the lab.

And, well, when you’re on a roll you’re on a roll. She checked in with the preliminary results from the R&D team working on fabrics for better super suites (promising so far), before starting on her earlier brainchild of a mindmeld project that would allow individuals to share memories across an artificial connection. In the future, perhaps, it could be used to speed human learning. Or, maybe, it could find a home in the dating industry; that was always shockingly lucrative. But, halfway through fleshing out her sketch, she had been struck with the whimsy of a potsticker machine, and, well, she couldn’t resist a small detour into that exploration. Christmas wasn’t too far off, and she wanted to be able to give Kara something that was meaningful, not simply expensive. The initial results had been promising.

Okay, maybe she had worked for longer than she thought. She stepped out onto the main floor to find it nearly abandoned. She made her way over to the main elevator, and when it let her off at her penthouse office she saw that even Jess was gone, and the windows were an inky dark. She opened the door to her office and flicked on the light.

Movement by the balcony caught her eye. “Supergirl!” she shouted in surprise, as the superhero spun around, lost her balance, and tumbled off the edge of the railing. Lena, instinctively, rushed over, throwing open the balcony door and leaning over the railing just as Supergirl floated up, her face still half hidden in shadows.

“Miss Luthor!” she squeaked, and the cleared her throat, though there was still something a bit sluggish about her tone, “Miss Luthor. I apologize I did not realize you were still at the office.”

“Quite alright, Supergirl. You just caught me by surprise. What are you doing here, is everything alright?”

Supergirl landed unsteadily onto the balcony next to Lena, on the floor this time instead of the railing. Lena tracked the slight wavering of balance. “Yes, Miss Luthor. It’s a quiet night. I was just resting here a moment. You have a nice view.”

Lena tilted her head curiously. “Oh.” Something was certainly different about the hero. “In that case, can I get you anything?”

Supergirl usually said no. But this time she nodded and asked for a water, before returning to lean against the railing. Lena went inside to the minibar and grabbed them both drinks, Supergirl a sparkling water, and a scotch for herself, before shrugging her jacket on and returning to the hero.

Supergirl nodded her thanks, and they both settled quietly into their own thoughts.

Eventually, Supergirl broke the silence. “What were you doing all night?”

Lena frowned. She couldn’t tell if it was her imagination, but it felt like there was something vaguely accusatory in the tone. “I was in the lab.”

“Oh, I didn’t realize you did that on your own. I imaged you had a team that would do that for you. Teams even.” Yes, there was definitely something vaguely accusatory. Now Lena knew something wasn’t quite right. The superhero’s voice sounded muffled and uncertain, like she was talking with a numb tongue, or like. _No. That can’t be it. Do superheroes even get drunk?_

_Well, I suppose they’re only human._

_Or rather…_

“I don’t usually have the time for it. But it’s something I truly enjoy. I clearly lost myself in the project.”

“What were you working on?” She asked and then muttered something that Lena couldn’t quite catch.

Lena narrowed her eyes suspiciously. Was this some form of sloppy interrogation? She had thought that she had been developing something of a rapport with the superhero, if not a friendship. Granted, they had only spoken during crises before; kidnappings and the like. So maybe it was simply more a relationship borne of necessity than anything else. “Want to make sure I’m not working on some covert war machine?”

“I’m just making small talk. Is there a problem with me asking questions about your night?” Supergirl’s tone matched her annoyance.

Lena rolled her eyes. “You do know that the DEO consults with me now. I’m _officially_ on your side, with filed paperwork and everything. The lawyers have given their approval on both sides. I now have a private team dedicated to creating technology to keep you safe.”

“Of course, you do. Everyone has to make sure _Supergirl_ is well enough to handle city-wide security. _Clearly_ ought to be everyone’s top priority. Forget _anything_ else.” Supergirl snarked back darkly, her whole body slouching into the railing. Lena shot the superhero a confused look out of the side of her eye and tried to reassess the situation. The superhero was drunk (definitely, Lena was sure now), borderline badgering her about her night, and definitely engaging in some undignified moping on her balcony. She was hardly in the condition to run a covert fact-finding mission. Was she simply lonely? Lena’s early thought swam back through her head.

_Well, perhaps she truly is only human, alien biology aside_.

Lena changed tracks. Maybe she could comfort the hero? No, that seemed a bit outside her range of experience. But, perhaps she could distract her instead. For some reason she thought of Kara, who would, of course, know exactly what to say in this situation. Lately, she often found thinking about the sorts of things the reporter would be good at. Daydreaming even. Well, at least she could serve as a safe topic.

“Can you keep a secret, Supergirl?” The hero simply snorted in response, “Alright, then if you’re so certain. Just don’t tell your friend Kara Danvers. I _did_ check in on a DEO-related project for better fabrics, but just briefly. It’s going well, by the way. And I _was_ working on a new project for sharing memories, which seems promising and should be quite lucrative. But, then, I’ll admit, I got quite distracted with a potsticker machine, and that was what took up most of my night. It should be ready in plenty of time for Christmas.”

“A potsticker machine?” Supergirl echoed, her head perking up. Something about the movement reminded Lena of a puppy, a mental image she usually only got with Kara around. Well, they were talking about her, after all.

“Mhm, for Kara. She’s rather _unusually_ fond of them. I’ll need to speak with a few of the chefs at her favorite restaurants to calibrate it correctly; particularly that shockingly dirty hole in the wall on 7 th that she loves. For a hefty consulting fee, of course. Lord knows, if I’m successful, I will be taking away what I’m sure is a considerable source of business for them. Do you like potstickers as well? Supergirl?”

When the hero didn’t respond, Lena touched her elbow gently. To the shock and horror of the young inventor, Supergirl flinched back with a sob. “Supergirl! Are you sure you are okay?” She half reached out as if to check the superhero for injuries. Supergirl took a step back, her hands flapping uncertainly.

“It’s just so nice. You really do care about her.”

“Of course, I do. She is one of my best friends. I imagine you can understand that, it’s something we have in common.”

“Sure.” Supergirl turned back towards the railing, rubbing at her eyes angrily. _Stupid, stupid, stupid. Pull it together Danvers. Of course, the one friend who doesn’t know your secret is the only one who still sees Kara Danvers._ Now fully in the light, Lena could see that they were red rimmed and swollen, and had been for a while. “You wouldn’t feel that way if you knew the truth.”

“I’m sorry?”

“If you knew how she was lying to you,” Supergirl said angrily. “If you knew who she truly was, you’d treat her differently. Everyone treats her differently after they know. Suddenly little Kara Danvers doesn’t matter anymore.”

Lena’s attempt at goodwill snapped. So much for her (borderline) excellent day. “I’m not sure what has you in such an antagonistic mood, but I assure you that there is nothing that Kara could do that would turn me away from her. She is one of the brightest souls I have ever met.”

Supergirl snorted again, and shifted on her feet moodily like a misunderstood teenager, “You’d feel betrayed.”

“I’d manage,” Lena responded coolly.

“Okay, maybe you wouldn’t turn away from her,” Supergirl acquiesced, half turning to jab a finger in Lena’s direction, “But you’d just forget her. And that’s just as bad. When you finally know you’ll find that she’s not good enough for you or anyone else really. Not when you could have someone better.”

“Bullshit.”

“I’m sorry?”

“You heard me. I said bullshit. If Kara has secrets, then she has secrets. But there is nothing that would make her matter less to me. I’m not sure what happened to you today, Supergirl, but, if I may make a suggestion, if National City’s hero can’t hold her alcohol, then maybe she shouldn’t indulge in it.”

“Prove it.”

“What?”

“Prove she matters.”

“She’s not a game I will try and test to satisfy your curiosity, Supergirl.”

“It’s not like you have to call her up, or even answer her fucking text. I am right here. Tell me to my face whether I matter beyond the symbol and the cape and even with all the lies. Tell me you’d pick the ‘human’ over the hero.”

The words ran through Lena’s head like a train wreck and it took her a moment longer than usual to understand their meaning. That couldn’t mean what it had implied, could it? She looked up into the hero’s slightly-unfocused blue eyes and found that they were, indeed, familiar. “Kara?” she asked uncertainly. And even though it was her that gave away the secret, Supergirl froze at the identification, and she instinctively began to backpedal.

“What, no that’s ridiculous, that’s not what I meant. Clearly, I meant, um-”

Lena hushed her and reached out uncertainly, her hands cupping the super’s face, one finger reaching out to trace the small scar above her eyebrow. Kara stilled under the touch, and the drunken anger at her sister and at her friends began to burn off and subside.

Kara gave a watery laugh and tried to smile at Lena. Her words were catching up with her muddled brain and she was fidgeting with the edge of her skirt uncomfortably. But if Lena was going to abandon her too, it would be better now than later when she cared about her even more. She tried to tell herself that, even as the sounds were once more getting loud and overbearing; even as all the lights felt unbearably bright; even if she could feel the whorls and ridges of the fingertips running gently across her face. She wrapped her arms tightly around herself and tried to physically reign the feelings in. “I just want to matter too.”

Lena found that Kara was right. She did feel betrayed. And for a few solid seconds those feelings roiled through her as a boiling force. But then, she pulled them down and tucked them securely away. She was a Luthor after all, and had years of practice setting her hurt aside. She loved Kara, and she knew would still love Kara after they worked their way through this. And they definitely would come back to work through this, sometime soon. But right now, something was clearly terribly wrong with the other woman, and her feelings on that impending discussion could wait.

“Oh, Kara. Come here.” She pulled the other woman into a stiff hug and held her, her hand running up and down her friend’s spine until she began to untense. Then she led her inside to the couch. She set herself down and pulled the compliant kryptonian close towards her. “What is wrong? Can we talk about why you feel this way?”

Kara held herself together for an additional three seconds before giving into full blown sobs. Lena pulled her into her and the other woman simply crumpled. With a bit of maneuvering, she finally got her settled, lying down with her head in her lap. Kara threw her hands up over her face as she simply shook. Lena slowly ran her fingers through the older woman’s hair, telling her over and over again that it was alright. “Darling, please talk to me.”

“I want to go home,” the words eventually broke out through the sobs.

“Alright, darling, alright. Not like this though. I’m not letting a drunk and sobbing Supergirl fly out my window. Yes, I can tell you’re drunk. But we can just stay here a moment and then I’ll bring you back to your apartment. We can watch a movie, anything you’d like.”

“No, I want to go _home_.”

Lena’s hands stilled for a moment uncertain, but restarted again at Kara’s whine. “To Midvale?”

The older woman sighed, and gestured weakly skyward, and Lena’s heart sank at the realization that nothing could be done.

“Oh, Darling. Sweetie. I can see how much you hurt. I know it’s not much, but I’m here for you.”  Kara rolled towards her and tucked her face into Lena’s body, and Lena held her while she cried herself out. Eventually, the sobs slowed, and her body stopped shaking and instead wilted in boneless way.

“It’s Earth Birthday.” The voice was muffled against her stomach.

“Is that a holiday of sorts?”

“I arrived on Earth thirteen years ago today.”

Lena hummed, thoughtful, “And you’re twenty-six now. So, this is a particularly hard one.”

Kara nodded against her and whined piteously. “Usually, I like to celebrate it. So, I can remind myself about everything that is good with this world, but it’s not enough this year. And it makes me feel so guilty. What does it mean, Lena? That this year I’ll have lived on Earth longer than I lived on Krypton?”

“I think that’s something only you can answer. You can love both worlds. You faced something traumatic when you were far too young, and you’ve been strong in the face of that for a very long time. And tonight, I am here, and while I can never know what you experienced, I will do anything in my power to help share some of that burden. Okay?”

“Okay.” Kara agreed, but she made no move to get up. Lena didn’t rush her, just continued to stroke her hands through the other woman’s hair.

“Is there someone you’d like to call? Maybe your sister, or Superman?”

Kara scoffed, some of the anger returning, and muttered darkly, “They don’t understand. And he doesn’t care about Krypton. He doesn’t remember what Rao looked like in the mornings. He doesn’t even speak Kryptonese.”

Lena hushed her and Kara settled once more. She worried her lip self-consciously, at the cusp of a secret of her own. She made a decision and leaned down to whisper strange words into the woman’s ear. There wasn’t a perfect translation to English, but she understood it to mean “ _Your heart has a home within my own.”_

Kara bolted upright, looking at Lena with shining eyes. “You speak Kryptonese.”

Lena ducked her head with a blush, “A few phrases here and there. Nothing substantial, unfortunately.”

“How?”

“Lex had some documents about it in his file that had some phonetic translations, and a few tapes that he had prepared himself. They sounded so musical; he sounded so beautiful. When he went to prison, I’d listen to them sometimes. I know I shouldn’t miss him after everything that has happened, but I do sometimes.”

“What was he like, when he was younger?”

Lena blew out a slow breath, and Kara quickly backpedaled, “Sorry. Um, you don’t have to tell me. That was rude.”

“No, no. It’s alright. It’s just hard to think of him as a boy and not see the traces of the man he’d become and wonder if I could have saved him had I been better. And other times, it feels too easy to forget what would happen. Just give me a moment.”

Kara adjusted to lean into her shoulder, and Lena tried not to think about how the change in position nearly had the older woman straddling her, _not the time for your silly crush, Luthor_.

“He was always quite proud, and he was used to being the smartest person in any room. But he was, he used to be fiercely protective of me. Sometimes your sister reminds me of him, actually, how he used to rile up at perceived slights sent in my direction. He had this wicked sense of humor that would have me in stitches, and it made things seem lighter when, well, when things weren’t so much. Somehow, he being a ginger with that crazy flop of red hair, made it all even funnier. And maybe, when we together, that helped to center him? I’m not sure. Sometimes I like to think that, and sometimes I hate to. But then I went to boarding school, and he went to Metropolis. I visited him once, and it seemed okay. He had made friends, and he introduced me to one of them. But, he didn’t want to hear about what I had been doing. He used to love to hear about my life, and to offer me advice. I had diagrams for this robot for a competition that I wanted to show him. We used to build them as kids, these fierce and frightful things back when that seemed to be merely nerdy fun. But he was obsessed with his Super project, and I was angry that he was ignoring me so I told him that I didn’t want to know about it. And I lost him then.”

Kara pressed closer to hug the other woman.

“I’m sorry for what he did, Kara. I wish I had known enough to stop him.”

“It’s not your fault”

“That doesn’t always matter. Tell me about your home?”

With her mouth close enough to her ear to send shivers down her spine, Kara began to speak in her home tongue. She spoke in full sentences and phrases, and Lena wanted nothing more desperately than to understand more than a handful of words. The most she could tell was that she was speaking of her home planet, of her family, and her friends. Still, it sounded beautiful, more like humming on a spring day than any language that had originated on Earth. Lacking anything close to a full vocabulary, when Kara finally trailed off, Lena hummed a lullaby in return. It was one that she could remember from her young childhood, before she was adopted by the Luthors, when her mother used to sing to her when she was getting fussy. It was one she had taught Lex once, but he had forgotten now.

When she finished, Kara echoed it back to her, the tune imperfect but recognizable. Lena hummed through it again, and Kara mimicked it closer. At the third try, she had it close to perfect, so, Lena replied with her Kryptonese phrase instead, _“Your heart has a home within my own_.”

Kara responded with a something new in her own language, a phrase that Lena did not recognize, but that clearly had weight. she carefully mimicked back. And for the first time that night Kara’s face broke into a smile that felt _real._ Because of course, _of course_ , Lena would get the inflections and the pronunciation right on her first try.

“What does it mean?”

“It’s hard to translate. Roughly it’s the greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live, and the greatest hope is the new life that gets planted by those we bond with.”

Lena repeated it slower with a smile, committing it to her memory. “It’s a beautiful language.”

“Thank you. I miss hearing it every day.”

“I know. It’s okay to feel that way. It’s okay to be sad about everything you lost and it’s also okay to feel happy when you find something on this planet that leaves you feeling warm. Your feelings are valid, Kara. Valid and important. You don’t have to hide them away. It’s okay to be upset tonight. It’s okay to be upset in general.”

“I just feel sometime that everyone just thinks about Supergirl now, and maybe not so much about me.”

“What does that difference feel like to you, between you and Supergirl?”

“I’m not sure exactly? Sometimes there’s none. But sometimes Supergirl is the costume that I put on. She’s an icon, but I’m a person.”

“I see. Supergirl needs to be indestructible. But you shouldn’t have to be.”

Kara nodded sleepily. Maybe these words still didn’t feel fully true tonight, but they felt warm. She started chattering away again and interrupted another lazy string of Kryptonese with a poorly stifled yawn. Lena smiled at the other woman, “Come on, Kara. I think that drink is settling in. Let’s get you someplace with a proper bed.”

Lena pushed Kara towards a standing position and steadied her as she swayed dangerously, “Whoa,” she giggled, and Lena rolled her eyes. The emotional tension and deep connection from just a few moments ago was broken, and Lena was left in a role as old as alcohol: as the sober person babysitting their drunken friend. “That stuff really hits you on a delay.”

“Alright, drunkie. Just wrap your arm around my shoulder. That’s it. We’ll get you into some pajamas and into bed and you’ll feel better in the morning.”

Lena thanked the gods that the building was empty this time of night. She set the security feed to a loop of empty halls with a timer of fifteen minutes. Then she led Kara over to the elevator that opened up next to her parking spot on the lower level. She helped Kara into back the passenger seat, and buckled her in, though she wondered if that were silly on some level, knowing what she does now. Her driver long gone, Lena slid behind the wheel and started the car up. Kara was asleep, sprawled out across the back in a tangle of seat belts and snoring quietly, before they even left the garage.

With no intention being seen with a drunk Kryptonian, or helping said clumsy superhero up the three flights of stairs to Kara’s apartment, Lena returned to her own home. She pulled into the parking entrance of the apartment building, and circled the floor to her section before clicking the button to open the overhead door to her own private space within the larger garage, passing through numerous check points as she did. From inside there, she pulled Kara along into another private elevator that went to up to the penthouse suite apartment. Sometimes, like when you were smuggling a drunk superhero through town, it paid to have these extra amenities.

Lena found an extra pair of sweatpants and an overlarge shirt _(Yes Kara, I do own comfortable clothes)_ , as well as a new toothbrush and a washcloth ( _Yes Kara, toothbrush_ is _a funny word)_ , and gently pushed the Kryptonian towards her guest bedroom ( _No Kara, I don’t think jumping on the bed is a good idea tonight_ ), hoping to whatever god was listening that she wouldn’t get sick in the middle of the night. Although she did not have superhearing of her own, she waited until the sounds of a stumbling superhero faded, and the bed shifted with her weight, before heading off to her bedroom herself. Finally finding herself with a moment to check the notifications that had built up throughout the day, Lena saw the text for the first time that night. _“I’m having a Ben and Jerry’s sort of night. Any chance you’re free to watch a movie”._ Lena’s heart ached at the message, and she got halfway to standing up before she could stop herself. Kara was just in the other room. She was safe. Lena should let her sleep.

But when Kara knocked on her door in the early morning hours, Lena simply made room and held the blankets open for her to slip inside. She let the other woman curl into her, and mimicked languid phrases of Kryptonese back and forth until the superhero drifted back off into sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter is a lot shorter. It was going to be twice as long, but I don't like the second half of it yet, so I'm still working on it and will just post it as the third chapter when it feels closer to right. I didn't expect such a strong reaction to it, so I promise everything that chapter 4 on is going to be minimal angst and more maximum fluff with some nice Big Sister Alex moments. But I'm glad ya'll are enjoying it so far. 
> 
> Also, a reminder, that while this isn't totally AU per se, I might be, eh, playing fast and loose with the details. In my head cannon on this, Kara is just a little bit more messed up about being on Earth and a Super and about her wildly traumatic childhood, and this reflects that a bit I suppose.

The concert had been epic. The music was rocking, and the show was great. Alex had met the members of the band (courtesy of Maggie’s friend working security), promptly embarrassed herself and was not-so-casually dragged off by her girlfriend. She had danced and sung until her throat felt sore and scratchy. Near the end of the night she had pressed Maggie against a souvenir stand wall, kissed her like she meant it, and slipped her hand along the seam of her girlfriend’s jeans, right below the zipper until Maggie had gently pushed her away blushing and laughing and playfully scolding her that she was going to get them kicked out. She had no regrets.

Well, except maybe one teeny one.

A teeny tiny regret that had grown like a ball of lead in her gut, weighing her down along with the three over-priced beers, the shots of smuggled tequila, and the concert-quality food. It was something that had bubbled up and pressed against her ribs until she couldn’t quite ignore it the slight discomfort it caused, like a small pebble in your shoe. So, when the early morning hours found her in her girlfriend’s car, Bare Naked Ladies still blasting through the speakers, and her hands increasingly wandering across her girlfriend’s thighs in a dangerously distracting manner, her entire mind was caught up with getting _her_ detective home.

Except for that one tiny part. The one piece that desperately wanted, needed, to be inside her sister’s home with a cupcake and a lit candle.

She sighed and pulled her hands to safer territory. She turned down the music and leaned across the center console to nuzzle appreciatively into her girlfriend’s shoulder. “Babe, can we make a quick detour on the way home?”

Maggie pulled up to a stop at a red light and turned her head towards her girlfriend, a knowing look in her eyes. “How quick? You’ve got me pretty worked up, Danvers. I’ve been thinking about getting you home since we first left the house.”

“Um, maybe not that quick.” Alex admitted with a guilty smile that said _Kara_. Maggie met it indulgently and turned to kiss her girlfriend until the light changed and the car behind them began to honk.

Thirty minutes later found them outside Kara’s door with a box of cupcakes, and a box of candles. Maggie got it, sort of, what Kara meant to Alex. And she understood, fully, that, if she was going to date Alex seriously, then protecting and guiding Little Danvers came with the package.

Sure, it had bothered her at first; her girlfriend running off to play nanny to a full-grown woman. But then she had learned Kara’s secret. And late that night, when they were both sweaty, exhausted, and satisfied, in the middle of whispered pillow talk about their lives, their hopes, and their dreams, she had asked Alex the loaded question, _what was it like growing up with a Super?_

Alex had gotten quiet. She had turned towards Maggie with a serious and searching look. Finding something that satisfied her she told her girlfriend the truth. It had been wonderful, every moment, and she was so thankful for being blessed with having Kara in her life. And it had been absolutely awful as well.

She told Maggie about how mad she was at first about having to share her world with a strange new sister. She told her that, initially, Kara struggled with English, but that Alex had been too upset then to try to learn any Kryptonese. She told her about how quiet Kara had been when they corrected her accent, how she would sit in her room, alone, and softly practice removing the traces of her native tongue from her patterns of speech. And Alex told Maggie about the sensory overload, and their first Fourth of July, which was so overwhelming that Kara ran all the way to Metropolis to find her cousin. She told her about how Kara was so terrified that she was shaking and crying, and that she kept slipping into Kryptonese, and how frustrated Superman had looked when he had to keep repeating, “I don’t speak that. I don’t understand what you’re saying.” She told Maggie that it took years to realize that, with her expanded senses, the fireworks must have felt like Krypton was dying again, and that she hadn’t heard Kara speak her home language since. Now when the Fourth of July comes around, Kara flies off somewhere quiet and alone, usually floating over the ocean and waits until morning.

Alex told Maggie about the moment she understood the scale of the loss. She described Mira, the playful and teasing imaginary friend that Kara had had for two years after landing. And she told her about the moment she realized that this person used to be real. That this ghost that Kara kept in her heart had lived down the street from Kara’s childhood home, and they had known each other since they were two. She told Maggie about the time that Kara had offhandedly mentioned that she and this friend had planned to mate-bond one day, how they had promised this to each other with all the certainty that young children possessed, and how Alex herself had forced to not cry because she wanted Kara to feel like she could talk about her home.

Alex told Maggie about the time she got suspended for beating up this little shit down the street so bad that he still had scars. He had figured out just enough to know that Kara didn’t quite understand normal things, and had convinced her that both boys and girls take their tops off completely when it was hot. And Alex had come in just a moment too late and the neighborhood kids were all laughing at Kara, and Kara was crying, and Alex had seen red. So, Alex did all the things that Kara did not yet have the control to manage, and would never have the temperament to try. And when Alex returned to school, she continued to make this boy’s life _hell._ (Maggie filed this kid’s name away for later).

And Alex told Maggie about the time she had arrested an alien from Fort Rozz who could read minds. She explained how he had smiled in the middle of their interrogation and calmly described every horrible thing he would do to her sister if there was ever a moment where he got his hands on her. And how he had explained that there were hundreds of aliens out there, eagerly waiting for a chance to do the same. And about how, when Kara saved her plane, she hadn’t felt relief, she had just felt like all of those terrible things were about to come true and that was when she knew, deep down in her soul, that the day would come where she would be unable to keep Kara _safe_.

So, Maggie could understand, sort of, what this meant for Alex. She grasped why her girlfriend could give so much of herself to keeping Kara safe and happy. Because in the scale of everything Little Danvers had lost, it hardly felt like anything at all. So she tried to keep that in mind on all the days her needs came before their own.

Complicating her own feelings on the matter, now that she was looking, Maggie could see the small missteps that set Alex’s teeth on edge with worry: the cultural norms that Kara missed; the idioms she sometimes didn’t quite understand; the accidental miscalculations of her power; and the times she responded to things she couldn’t possibly hear, or lifted things she shouldn’t feasibly be able to hold. Maggie saw just how much Kara Danvers got away with because she was a sunny, unassuming puppy of a human dressed in a pastel cardigan, and saw, just as easily, a version of the world where it could all come crashing down. So, she got why Alex still felt the need to help guide her through life. And, of course, it was so damned easy to like Little Danvers, to want to keep her safe and happy, to want to fall in lockstep with Alex as a big-sister-like figure.

So, okay, she wanted to be here too. And she wished Alex had brought this Earth Birthday thing up sooner so they could’ve talked about maybe skipping the concert, or at least addressing Kara’s needs earlier in the day. But they could talk about that later, because Maggie got it now, and she saw how much Alex struggled with the balance. Maybe the lines were obvious to outside observers, but Alex was still trying to find them. So, she understood that the two of them were still working on that. And even when it frustrated her (like right now when they were fully dressed and standing instead of completely naked and lying down) it still made her love Alex even more.

No one answered when they knocked on the door. “It is like 1 in the morning, babe.” Maggie noted in a whisper.

“Well, I’ll just pop in and leave the cupcakes then.” Alex slid the key in the lock and snuck in like she was on an op. She popped open the cupcake box, and laid half of them out in a trail from the dining room table to the bedroom. But when she got closer to the bed, she realized it was still made from this morning. “Kar?” She spoke into an empty room.

“Maybe she’s superheroing?” Maggie mused, moving to shift the start of the trail from the bed to the cracked-open window where she expected Supergirl to pop through whenever she came back from where she was.

Alex shrugged, a little concerned, “Maybe. Sometimes she likes to just go out for a fly too.”

“Hm,” Maggie finished altering the path and came over to give Alex a kiss on her forehead, and then slipped a more teasing one behind her ear. “Let’s leave her a note and come back for breakfast?”

“Yeah,” Alex agreed, absentmindedly, one hand already working on a text to her sister, “Yeah, that’s a good idea.”

 

 

 

 

Lena Luthor woke up, as she does every morning, with the sunrise, shaking off the uncomfortable effects of a too-short rest. Unlike every morning, however, she also woke up wrapped around the steel body of a Kryptonian wearing _her_ MIT sweatpants and an old band t-shirt. One of her arms, which had snaked under Kara’s body at some point in the night and was now held protectively to the other’s chest, was dead asleep. The other was wrapped over Kara’s hip with the fingertips settled just under the edge of the worn t-shirt on too-hot skin. She lingered in the moment, burying her face against the other’s neck to take in the smell of Kara, the smell of Supergirl. How long had she had been falling in love with Kara, and how long had she had a silly ‘celebrity’ crush on Supergirl? She let herself give into the fantasy of having this as normality, before shaking herself free of the feeling. They were only more unattainable as one person as they were when she had thought them separate, and Kara still mattered to her too much to complicate their friendship with a straight-girl crush.

She carefully moved Kara to pull herself free, finding the Girl of Steel to be pliant and gentle even in her sleep. Conscious of the lack of breakfast food (or any sort of groceries, really), Lena quietly riffled through her drawers for a pair of designer jeans and a nice shirt, and left the room to change, all while letting her thoughts drift elsewhere.

 _Well_ , she snorted, _at least this explains the appetite. I probably don’t have to worry about her dying of severe malnutrition anymore. I wonder what her dietary needs are, exactly. If two hamburgers, a large fries, and a half-gallon shake is a subtle lunch, what is a comfortable one? At least she’ll really appreciate the, oh my god I already ruined the surprise for Christmas! God damnit, that idea was brilliant. Now I actually am upset about this identity reveal thing. It’s one thing to moonlight as a vigilante; it’s another thing entirely to be a confidant for secrets about_ yourself _. I’ll have to bring that up when we get around to talking about all this_.

Feeling somewhat annoyed, Lena’s mind settled on the calming ritual of a morning cup of coffee. She left a note on the table, slipped her jacket on, and headed outside. There was a donut shop around the corner that she had never stepped foot in before, and now seemed like the right time to try. It turned out to be a quaint little place with freshly made selections of the typical choices, as well as an array of ‘seasonal’ donuts that the owners rotated, at a whim, on an experimental basis. She was deep in thought, wondering how horrified Kara would be at the presence of a sugar-powdered kale donut when she caught sight of them out of the corner of their eye.

Oh, now this was the _exact_ opposite of calming.

 Lena’s eyed them curiously and sighed as she quickly put in her order for two dozen donuts, a half-dozen bagels with cream cheese, a fruit smoothie, and three coffees to go. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, again, sorry for the brevity. The next chapter(s) is(are*) mostly written, so it (theoretically) shouldn't be too long before I can get the next one out. I just need to make it work better, but (spoiler) it will involve more Maggie / Alex / Lena dynamics. 
> 
> *depending on how I break the chapters up, one or two of the upcoming ones are mostly done.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this is what was going to be the second half of chapter 2. I think it is right enough now. Let me know what you think of the characterization of the interaction. Most of what is now chapter 4 is written, so there shouldn't be too too long of a wait for that, likely next weekend. But not sure about how quickly the final chapter will get turned around after that.

Alex and Maggie idled at the corner of Chalmette Street and Franklin Avenue.

“This is it?” Maggie asked, her voice betraying her uncertainty. This was a nice part of town. Evil masterminds and low-level grunts alike seemed to concentrate in warehouse districts pretty religiously.

“This is where we last had a connection from her cellphone tracker last night. Just over in that tower.”

Maggie gave it an appraising look, “I see at least eight security details and numerous coded points of entry. Not sure we can break in.”

“Break in? Hell, I’m going to flash my badge and push my way past them. Just follow close and try to look intimidating. Remember, this is a matter of national security.” Alex checked the clip in her gun and shoved the side door open, nearly hitting a pedestrian on the sidewalk. She wouldn’t have paid the woman a second glance if she hadn’t called out to her.

“Agent Danvers, such a surprise to see you here. And I recognize you, Detective, you arrested me once, here to try again?” Lena greeted with a raised eyebrow and a sardonic smile.

In spite of their messy history, Maggie liked the Littlest Luthor and found herself sending an authentic smile back, raising her eyebrows knowingly in return. Now this, this was good news. Kara physically could not shut-the-actual-fuck-up about this woman. She was just about to recommend to her girlfriend to back off and let the girl get laid, when she caught the stony look on the agent’s face.

Maggie sighed.

 “Luthor, if this is some sort of-“

“Evil plot? Yes, of course, and the donuts are a key feature,” Lena replied, pushing off the bags into the flustered agent’s hands. “Come along,” she beckoned, “Kara is still asleep upstairs.”

Maggie sighed again as Alex considered their options, louder this time, hoping that maybe her girlfriend might actually get the hint. She loved her, but Jesus Christ was the agent a sweet gay mess. If these two weren’t sleeping together yet, then the only kind thing to do would be to lock them together in a dark, comfortable room (maybe with a couple candles and some gentle music) for an undetermined period of time. For some reason, Alex seemed intent on doing the opposite. “And what is she doing here?”

Under her breath, Maggie muttered, “Fucking, hopefully.”

“Kara is my friend. She is safe and sound and sleeping peacefully upstairs. She had a bad night and stayed over. In my apartment. In the highly secure and exclusive tower. Which I have access to; both because I live here, and because I own the entire building. So, since I imagine you are not going to leave me alone to my morning, you can either come up with me now and I can let you in. Or you can try to convince the security guards to allow you the same privilege, and never make it past the lobby.”

Alex tensed at the display of power, but rolled her eyes rather than rising to the bait. “Your lead, Luthor.” Lena nodded sharply and turned to strut off towards the tower without a backwards glance.

Maggie could see why Kara liked her. From what Alex had told her about Kara’s previous relationships (with her high school best friend, her college TA, her college professor, her college dean, and an unrequited crush on a recent boss), she always did have a weakness for powerful, assertive women in expensive, fuck-me heels. Of course, all of them had mixed about as well as oil and water with Alex on any occasion when they had met.

But even she had to realize that Lena was a much better fit for her than Kara’s recent crushes. Maggie had worked security for Cat Grant before, and the Media Queen was a walking nightmare. And Lena was _certainly_ better than whatever the straight side of her bi had been drudging up lately; Maggie could live a long and happy life never talking with Mon El again. If only Alex wasn’t quite so oblivious. She sincerely needed to sit the agent down with reruns of the L-Word. Maybe the morning didn’t have to be a complete loss – Lena seemed like the sort to have the entire series on DVD.

They walked into an expansive lobby and Lena nodded to the security guard at the desk. “Ms. Luthor,” he greeted.

“It’s Lena, Mr. Mason,” she replied with a slightly teasing tone, she had been trying to get him to call her by her first name for months.

“Charlie is fine Ms. Luthor,” he responded, as he always did and checked over his computer screen for the readout on the new arrivals. “Your guests will need to turn over their weapons,” he informed her, and then turned to the pair behind her, “We have a secure weapons facility. We can assure you that they will be in good hands.”

Before Alex or Maggie could even voice their disagreement, Lena slid in, “That won’t be necessary Mr. Mason. They are with me. I’m consulting with their departments. We’re having a bit of a working weekend that simply can’t wait.”

“It’s policy, Ms. Luthor.”

“Then rest assured, I will edit the policy to place an exception in for myself this afternoon.”

“Ms. Luthor–“

“Mr. Mason.” Her voice was polite but she raised an eyebrow in a slight challenge.

“I see,” he said slowly, then asked their coded question, “Did you get a chance to try that dinner place the other night?”

“The Thai place was lovely. Thank you for the recommendation,” she replied with a wink.

He looked uneasy, but he nodded under her gaze, “Yes, Ms. Luthor.”

“Charlie, it’s Lena,” she replied over her shoulder as she moved into the elevator lobby, with Alex and Maggie close behind.

It’s a truism of elevators that their speed is inversely related to the tension of the occupants; and at least two of them were _quite_ uncomfortable. Finally, Alex sighed, and her posture dropped. “How is she?”

“Well she hasn’t woken up today, so frankly I have no idea.”

“How was she last night?”

Lena cocked an eyebrow at the agent as she moved gracefully into the newly arrived elevator. “Well, on a ten-point scale from golden-retriever puppy to drunk and crying, she was drunk and crying.”

Alex winced and pinched the bridge of her nose, her body tensing uncomfortably. She always preferred situations where punching someone solved the problem. “Did she say why?”

Luthor’s were well known for their cool composure under pressure, but Lena let her eyes flick knowingly over to Maggie, hoping that Alex would pick up on the unspoken question. Maggie, however, wasn’t the youngest woman to be promoted to the rank of Detective in NCPD’s history for nothing.

“Do you know what I think you know?” Maggie gave her a meaningful smirk. In her books, this was also good news. There was an even better chance for something to be brewing between National City’s most powerful women if everything was on the up-and-up, secrets wise.

“I’m sure I’ve no idea what you’re talking about?” Lena replied. Her slight air of disinterest would be enough to fool most people.

Maggie was not most people.

“Christ on a bike, you do!” Maggie said, laughing slightly and winking at the Luthor causing her to wonder, not for the first time since finding the pair outside her building, what, exactly, was Maggie’s opinion of their relationship. “Danvers, you owe me twenty.”

“What, don’t be ridiculous.” Alex said, her eyes sliding from her girlfriend to the CEO appraisingly. There was a tense moment of eye contact where both refused to blink or look away, and then agent’s narrowed in recognition, “Oh damnit, you do know.” Alex fumed, even as she reluctantly pulled her wallet from her pocket to fish out some cash.

“What, exactly, do I know?” Lena questioned, caught off guard at the clear dismissal of her reliable poker face.

“Just, how _super_ wonderful Kara is as a person,” Maggie replied, “Wouldn’t you agree?”

Lena tried to play off her discomfort at their knack for reading her with a casual shrug. “Well, you two are hardly subtle. And neither was she, for that matter, least of all when she wound up on my balcony last night.”

Alex groaned and buried her head in her hands, “Can’t you see this is a problem. No offense, Luthor, but Supergirl can’t just go around telling people her secret. It’s less safe for everyone involved the more people know. Also, this is going to be a paperwork nightmare. When I get ahold of her-”

Lena rolled her eyes dramatically, and leaned past Alex to push the emergency stop button on the elevator. Immediately, the cab’s slow climb jerked to a complete stop and Alex’s hands tensed towards her firearm. “Look, Agent Danvers, it is not my place to tell you how to interact with Supergirl as her coworker or with Kara as her sister. But I would like to bring a key issue to light; Kara came over last night, upset, because she felt that people cared more for her in a cape than in a cardigan.”

“That isn’t true.”

Lena shrugged, still airing towards the appearance of nonchalance, and leaned forward around Alex once more to release the hold on the elevator. “Whether it is true or not it was how she felt. That, and she’s homesick.”

The elevator dinged its arrival and Lena led them down the private hall, and then into her apartment proper. “Kara is through there,” she gestured towards her own bedroom, “but I would let her sleep. You’re welcome to make yourself at home in the meantime.”

Alex poked her head through the door to check in on her sister. Kara had kicked off all the covers at some point and was spread out like a starfish across the full expanse of the king-sized mattress. Outside, clouds were moving back and forth across the sun, and her expression changed with the shifts of the light filtering in from behind the curtains. Her big sister crept in quietly, pulled the curtains back to give her more access to the light, and kissed her gently on her forehead, before sneaking back into the main space.

By the time Alex had returned, Lena had set the rest of the bakery order on the kitchen counter, grabbed her coffee, and moved to the living room with her computer, intent on getting some work done. This moved the CEO far enough away from the breakfast bar to give her and Maggie a little privacy to talk, if they did so quietly, while still remaining in their line of sight with the open floor plan. It helped ease some of her tension, and she tried not to wonder if younger woman did it intentionally. She tried not to wonder what would lead a civilian to go through that sort of thought process.

Alex took one look at Maggie’s exasperated expression and snatched up a donut, readying herself for whatever the detective had to say. And dammit if it wasn’t delicious. If she didn’t watch out she’d find herself liking the bossy CEO.

 

 

It was another hour before Kara made her way out of the bedroom, bleary and groaning with her head in her hands. “Morning, Lena,” she greeted, her voice groggy. The sound of her own voice rocked around the room and split through her head like a bullet, and for a moment she could feel the weight of the air around.

“Good morning, Darling,” Lena returned easily with a smile, knowing that the term of endearment would grate the Agent’s nerves. “There’s a fruit smoothie as well as some bagels and donuts on the counter.”

“You are the most perfect woman I have ever met, most perfect human even,” Kara said solemnly, making her way towards the kitchen, and Lena hummed in response, busy wrapping up her current task. Then Kara looked up and caught sight of her sister and Maggie and nearly did a double take.

“Alex! Maggie! What are you doing here?” Kara asked, her head whipping around so fast back towards Lena that her vision blurred and her stomach roiled at the movement. So, this is what a hangover feels like. She wondered if the confusion was a natural part of it.

“Oh, yes,” Lena half turns to look up over the back of the couch with a wicked smile, “your sister and her girlfriend are here as well.”

Kara swiveled her head back and her vision blurred again. She closed her eyes against the movement. The bottom of her stomach fell out and she took a stumbling half-step. When she opened her eyes again she was on the floor, Alex on one side of her, and Lena on the other, both looking down at her in concern. Maggie was standing over Alex’s shoulder, a donut in each hand.

All three of them tried to talk at once and the sounds reverberated around her like a thunderstorm. She could feel the waves bouncing through the air and off the hard surfaces. She could feel the sounds touch her body like vibrating bass at a rock concert. Kara clapped her hands over her ears and closed her eyes. Her family moved around her and she felt someone pull her into a strong chest. Her head settled against someone’s collarbone and she sighed in relief as she felt and heard the steady beat of the heart below. She focused on that and let the rest of the world drift away.

It was hours later when Kara filtered back into consciousness. She was lying down atop Alex, who was lying down on a fancy modern couch, one arm outstretched with a remote as she flicked through the channels on a large, muted TV. Her head was tucked under her sister’s chin and the steady thump-thump-thump inside her sister’s chest made her feel grounded and warm.

“Too bright?” Alex asked in a whisper. Kara shook her head and nuzzled further into her sister’s hold. Alex’s arms came around her and rubbed circles on her back. The laid in silence for a moment, Alex letting her sister take things in her own time; the world was finally settling down into information that felt simple and manageable.

“I don’t want to have any tests done today.” Kara finally said, her voice muffled against her sister’s shirt.

“Okay.”

“I’m serious, Alex.”

“I know. We don’t need any tests. Is that why you haven’t told me about these episodes?”

Kara shrugged slightly, and the movement sent the textures rubbing across her skin like sandpaper. She grimaced. “It didn’t seem like a big deal. And I knew you’d be more worried than you’d need to be, and then you’d be mad I didn’t tell you.”

“It’s my job to be worried about you. I get full rights to concern as your big sister. And I’m only mad at myself for not noticing sooner. But I don’t need a test to see what’s wrong with you. You’ve always had sensory issues when you’re missing home.”

“What? That’s not true.”

Alex snorted. “Yes, it is. It happened all the time when you first arrived on Earth. And it still happens early in the mornings if you have nightmares, and sometimes late at night if you’re feeling particularly melancholy.”

“It was just because I wasn’t used to it when I first got here.”

“That’s true. And you had control issues with your active powers for a while because of that. But you never had sensory issues as well unless you were feeling sad too. I’m your big sister, I know these things.”

Kara just shrugged. She wasn’t convinced, but Alex did tend to know her best. She shifted her head so she was able to peek out. Alex had the Warrior’s game playing on mute, and was half watching the action. She watched the players flicker back and forth across the court.

“Let me know when you’re feeling ready to try some food. I’m worried that you haven’t had anything to eat in a while.”

“Are there still donuts?”

Alex smiled at the hopeful tone in her sister’s voice. “Yup. Plenty of them. Little Luthor must’ve bought out half the store.”

“Mhm, yumm.” Kara hummed and settled back in. Her stomach ached and grumbled quietly with impatience. “I’ll be ready in a moment.”

“Take your time baby. We can have Maggie bring some down too, if you’re not up for moving.”

“That would be nice.”

“Okay, I’ll text her when you’re ready.”

They settled back down, both half watching the silent game. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you yesterday.”

“You’re allowed to be happy.”

“Kara, I _am_ happy. You make me so so very happy. My relationship with Maggie matters, and whatever I want for me matters too. But these days that are special to you, and to us, they should get priority. There will be hundreds of concerts that Maggie and I could go to this year. But Earth Birthday only comes up once a year, and you’re too important for me to miss that. It’s just, I’m still working on getting this right.”

“I’m not mad.”

“Yes, you are, at least a little bit. I’m sorry baby. I love you. You, Kara Danvers, have always been my favorite person.”

“You haven’t even known me always.”

“Well the days before you came into my life hardly count so it’s still true.” Alex smiled down at the crown of blonde hair and carefully squeezed her sister in a gentle hug. “I think Maggie is going to like celebrating Earth Birthday with us too. You know, when she and I found each other, she wasn’t exactly expecting to find a little sister too. She had a rough time with her own family. But she’s quite fond of you. She asks after you all the time.”

“Really?”

“Mhm. I was just telling her recently about that time you won seven hot dog eating contests and three pie eating contests in a single day across four different states and I had to hack into all their sites to scrub the information before mom found out and she got the fondest look on her face.”

“You didn’t!”

“I did. She asked where I got my sweet hacking skills from. If the idea of real hot dogs didn’t make the vegan queasy I think she would’ve staged her own competition in our dining room just for you.”

“Nooooo. Please don’t let her do that with veggie dogs.”

“I promise I won’t.” They got quiet again for a moment. “You know, I worry a lot about Supergirl. You’re always doing such important but such dangerous work in your cape. I’m so proud of you for that. And I want to make sure you’re prepared and ready and at your very very best. But that’s just because I want to be sure that, at the end of the day, Kara Danvers-Zor El is safe and sound. You matter to me so so much. I haven’t been great at showing you that lately, but I want you to know it’s the absolute truth.”

Kara smiled and snuggled back into Alex, letting the familiar smells and sounds wash over her. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

They half-watched more of the game until Kara was ready to eat. And kept it running when Maggie and Lena came down to join them, taking care to move slowly and walk quietly. Lena had taken it upon herself to order a veritable buffet from one of Kara’s preferred Chinese food restaurants while she had been resting. Alex didn’t even complain when Kara stayed put on top of her while she ate (sloppily) through three boxes of lo mein, a full order of kung pao chicken, beef teriyaki, a large fried rice, and two dozen potstickers, before falling asleep once more.

When Kara woke again, the television was turned off. She found herself tucked into Lena’s side, Lena’s arm held protectively around her back, and one of her legs half-sprawled over Lena’s hip. When the other woman noticed that she was awake, she tucked a postcard into the pages of her book and set it aside. “How are you feeling?” She whispered.

“Better,” Kara answered back, her voice closer to normal volume. “Where are Alex and Maggie?”

“They got called into work. Is that okay? We figured it would be best just to leave you where you were. I told Alex I’d watch over you, but they’re going to come back to pick you up in around an hour. Do you want to get up, or do you want to stay lying down?”

“I think I want to get up. Maybe borrow your restroom and clean up a little.”

“Okay. Come along, I’ll get you a towel and a change of clothes. Then I’ve been given pretty strict orders to feed you, so I’d like to do that before your sisters get back.”

Kara nodded and followed along sleepily. By the time she was showered and had returned to eating, she had recovered the majority of her sunny disposition. It helped that Lena had ordered four fancy steaks with fully loaded baked potatoes (there was also some fancy vegetable dish, which Kara ignored in spite of Lena’s pointed looks). When Maggie and Alex returned to give her a ride back to theirs, she gave Lena a lingering hug that had Maggie shooting the youngest Luthor a knowing look. Alex even clapped Lena on the shoulder with a gruff ‘thanks’. Then the three of them disappeared into the hall, leaving Lena alone with just her thoughts for company.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think. I love reading your comments. Forecast is, next chapter will include more Sanvers and Alex / Lena interactions.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, sorry for anything rough. It can probably use another run through but I'm not quite in the head space for it; schools got me feeling just emotionally stretched thin. But I really enjoyed writing this one. It might be a little bit before the last chapter comes out. And right now, I'm not entirely sure if the next one will even be the last chapter, or more the second to last one. But we'll see. I had a lot of fun writing this one, so I hope ya'll enjoy reading it! At the very least, it should have some more of the Lena support ya'll have been asking for.

A week later, things had settled back in to some sort of normalcy.

Well, more or less.

Kara was not _exactly_ avoiding Lena. But she was avoiding a wormhole of feelings she was (slowly) coming to terms with in regards to the young CEO, and it amounted to pretty much the same thing. The last time Alex had checked in on her, she was ankle deep in discarded drafts of a what she had called, “It’s nothing Alex, stop asking, do you have to be so nosey, don’t you ever knock, what if I had been naked, oh my god, do you hear sirens, I hear sirens!” After which, Kara had promptly ripped her shirt off to expose her suit and before throwing herself out the window.

Alex had meant to follow up with her on this, but there had in fact been sirens, and by the time they had wrapped up the rogue alien it was past late and into early, so they were both ready to get to their respective homes. Besides, Alex knew her sister well enough to realize that the best time to address this was after luring Kara into a false sense of security with copious amounts of food, and that confronting her correctly would take a little bit more preparation. So, the older Danvers had stumbled home and faceplanted into her warm bed.

Hours later, Alex’s mind slowly bled out of her dreams and into half-consciousness. Alex could feel Maggie’s gaze upon her without even opening her eyes. The detective was watching her sleep again. She reached out blindly until she bumped against her girlfriend and gave her a light nudge. “Creeper.”

The other woman took hold of her hand and slowly guided the agent towards her, curling around until the taller woman’s back was pulled tightly to her front. “Well good morning to you too.”

“Food?”

“Always so eloquent.”

“Usually when you’re up before me, I end up with breakfast in bed.”

Maggie laughed and nuzzled into the back of her neck. “Please, Danvers, I haven’t ever made you breakfast in bed. We don’t want to lure the innocent Kryptonian into our half-naked mornings.” Her hand reached around her and palmed her breast gently, one then the other, before relaxing against her. Alex sighed contentedly. It was nice, but it was without intention. Maggie must have work soon. “You got in late.”

“Rogue alien down 51st.”

“Usually when I go to bed without a shirt on, I’m woken up when you get home.”

“Mhm, you were dead to the world. Just stop by my office for a nooner.”

“Yes, I’m sure your mind reading boss won’t mind.”

“Fine, I’ll come by the precinct. We’ll borrow an interrogation room.” Maggie laughed lightly again and went back to gently feeling up her sleepy girlfriend. God, she loved this woman. “You have work soon, don’t you?”

“Unfortunately.” Alex sighed, and then relaxed into the little time that they had.

“It’s Sunday.”

“Someone should let the criminals know. How’s Kara?”

“Better. I think. We’re having a sisters’ night on Tuesday; I’ll text you the details.” There was a moment of pause, “You know, you might be right about her having a crush on Little Luthor.”

“I am right, but what brought you around.”

Alex groaned playfully and reached out for her phone, flickering through some text messages before handing it back to Maggie for her to see. The detective’s body shook as she laughed against her. “Now that seems about right. I can’t believe you’ve been sitting on this information for days. She clearly needs my help. But she shouldn’t worry, Lena likes her too.”

“Yeah. Fine, you were right. I’m starting to get that vibe too.

“Blessed be, the advanced features on your gaydar are finally kicking in.”

“Hush you. I was thinking of stopping by and warning the young Luthor this morning before getting into the paperwork on that rogue alien.”

“Warning her?”

“You know, the shovel talk.”

“Ah.” Maggie got quiet, then slowly eased the agent around so that they were back to facing each other. They kissed languidly a moment and then rested their foreheads against each other. “Remember when my partner gave you the shovel talk?”

“He doesn’t scare me.”

Maggie smiled, “Few people do. You know, Little Luthor really cares about your sister.”

Alex snorted, “Well, everyone should,” and Maggie smiled endearingly. Only Alex would think that a rich, kind, generous, drop-dead-gorgeous, genius, heiress CEO who was _exactly_ Kara’s type and who was fully head-over-Louboutins _smitten_ with the girl wasn’t quite good enough for her baby sister.

“And if they do start dating, who do you think is going to give Kara the shovel talk on Little Luthor’s behalf?”

“Damn well better be no one,” the agent groused, “I’ll give them the shovel.”

“I’m serious, Danvers.”

Alex huffed, “It will probably be,” she trailed off, and her face softened. “Oh.”

“Mhm. Just something to think about, babe.” The jaunty tune of Maggie’s alarm broke into their morning, and, after one more languid kiss, she turned to get it with a groan. She stood up and stretched out, before moving towards the bathroom to start her morning routine. “Kara really cares about that girl; almost as much as that girl cares about Kara. It’s nice that they can be there for each other.”

Alex hummed in agreement, and settled back into the covers, deep in thought.

 

\-------------------

 

Lena was, how should she put it, less than thrilled to find Agent Danvers calling on her later that morning. “I knew I would regret putting you on my accepted visitors list,” she said by way of greeting, “I didn’t think it would be quite so soon.” Lena didn’t invite the agent in, exactly, but she moved back into her apartment and left the door open.

“And here I thought you’d be excited to see me,” Alex replied with a wry smile.

“Do try to keep the flirtations to a minimum. I understand it can be difficult. But your girlfriend has arrested me once already, I’d prefer not to tempt her again.” Lena settled back down at the breakfast bar with her cup of coffee. She did not offer one to her guest. Alex strode through the space, her heavy boots thudding against the wood floor, and canted her hip out to lean against the counter in front of the littlest Luthor. “What can I do for you, Agent Danvers?”

Alex dug through her bag and pulled out a small, white, cardboard box, the sort you would get at a fancy bakery. She placed it down between them with a shrug. Hesitantly, Lena reached out and opened it up.

“I’m not sure what this is,” Lena said, looking up at the agent.

“Kara said you liked them, guilty pleasure or something.” Alex shrugged and waved her hand out as if that clarified her thoughts.

Lena looked back down. An elegant eclair rested in the center of the box on the top of a frilly setting. She closed the lid again. “That doesn’t explain why you’re here delivering one.”

“Look, Little Luthor,” Alex said with a huff, her arms crossing over her chest defensively, “If you don’t want it, someone else will.”

“Is it….laced with something?”

“Please, Luthor. If I was going to poison you, I wouldn’t be sloppy enough to leave my fingerprints around.”

Lena looked at the box again, then back up at the agent, a sly smile forming across her lips. “Is this an apology pastry?”

“That would imply I felt there was something to apologize for,” Alex ground out haughtily, despite a slight blush rising up her neck.

“A thankyou pastry, perhaps?”

“I can take it back you know.” Alex reached out, but Lena pulled the box back, half turning her body protectively. She opened it once more, pulled the pastry out, and took a bite with relish.

“Mhm. It’s so good.”

 “Don’t make me regret this.”

“You asked Kara what I liked?”

“Like I can get her to shut up about you.”

“And you went out of your way on your busy morning to show you care. How sweet.” Lena’s voice was still happy and teasing, but there was a hint of something else as well, the same thing that was there when she made self-deprecating jokes.

Alex quit shuffling around and looked Lena square in the eyes. “Yes. I did. I appreciate what you did for Kara; what you do for her. I won’t forget it. That said, my morning wasn’t _that_ busy.”

Lena’s teasing smile dropped at the sudden shift in tone, and a smaller, shyer one rose in its place. She set the half-eaten pastry back down. “Thank you.”

“Look. I know I’ve more of a ‘guilty-until-proven-innocent’ personality – it’s why Maggie balances me out so well – but you’ve proven yourself a few times over either way, so it’s time I acted like it. We don’t have to make a big deal about it, is all.”

“Okay, Agent Danvers, I can agree to that.” There was a pause where they both shuffled uncomfortably at the emotion of the moment. “Would you like a cup of coffee.”

“I’d love one.”

It didn’t take long for the somewhat-stilted conversations to return to easy banter. Before they knew it, forty minutes had passed, and an embarrassing story from Kara’s college years was being interrupted by a slew of text message notifications. Alex peeked at her phone, smiled fondly, and typed back a quick message.

“Supergirl calling?”

“Something like that. Kara really.”

“Hm, yes. A subtle difference. I still can’t believe I didn’t notice before; it’s not like she’s particularly good at lying.” Lena replied with something of a laugh, more to herself than anything else.

“Well, she’s an alien.”

“I’ve noticed. An alien with glasses. Again, subtle.” Lena rolled her eyes.

“Well, yes,” Alex looked up, frowning in slight confusion, “But that’s not all of it, is it? You don’t notice it always, she looks human, and she basically _is_ human. I mean I definitely still think of her as human, but she’s also not. Our brains don’t process her face _exactly_ the same way. It’s a useful little quirk is all.”

“Oh?” Lena prompted, leaning in with curiosity, “How so?”

“Well, just try to picture her; cape or cardigan.”

Lena closed her eyes and tried to pull an image to the front of her mind. It should be simple, this was her best friend, after all. But she found she couldn’t; her mind kept trailing off uncharacteristically. It was like how conversations in coffee shops shifted to the background, subtle and unnoticeable unless you were looking for it. She still knew descriptors of course – Kara was blonde, and beautiful, and just a bit taller than her; and also, handsome, kind, and so very strong (okay, this little exercise was getting out of hand) – but that was all that was in her grasp. “Huh, is it the same for you?”

“Not anymore, but it took years. And I still can’t picture her as clearly as I can Maggie. Like I said, alien. But, you know, she’s basically human too. She’s the same as us, just slightly more annoying to split a pizza with.”

“Hm,” Lena agreed thoughtfully, “I do know that.”

Alex smiled at the younger woman. “I should go, but this was nice.”

“Yes. Thank you for stopping by.”

The mood had shifted to slightly awkward again, but not really in a bad way. “Thanks for coffee,” Alex said as she placed the mug in the sink and Lena walked her back towards the door. Just as she was about to leave she stopped with and turned, giving the CEO an appraising look.

“Yes?”

“There is one more thing. Maybe you can help settle up a little bet between Maggie and I.”

“Another one, Alex? I’d prefer to not be involved in whatever the two of you do for foreplay.”

“Cute, Luthor,” Alex was blushing again. She rubbed the back of her neck with a slight huff of irritation, but Lena could now see was more show than an authentic display. “Maggie seems to think you’ve got something of a crush on Kara.”

“I’m not sure what would give her that idea.”

Alex smiled. Yup. Lena's gay crush bled through with all the subtly of a flashing neon sign. “I thought you might say something like that.”

“Something like what?”

“Some sort of hedge where you don’t really answer anything.”

“Look, Agent Danvers, I really ought to be getting to work myself.”

“Back to Agent Danvers again? You know it’s Sunday, right? All I’m saying is that if you like Kara, you’re going to have to be the one to make the first move.”

“Weekends aren’t guarantees when you’re a CEO of a multi-billion-dollar tech company.”

Alex looked the younger woman in her eyes and dug her phone back out of her pocket. She clicked through some options then scrolled intentionally before handing it over for the littlest Luthor to see. It was part of the text message chain between herself and her sister from few days back, the same one she had shown Maggie this morning. “To be clear,” she clarified as Lena read through it, “There aren’t any missing texts. A little tip, if you want to get information out of Kara, there’s something to be said for waiting five minutes before responding.”

 

Kara: You promised you guys would stop betting on me

Kara: Okay yes, sheesh, no need to interrogate me. So, I like-like her. Maggie wins

Kara: Allleeeeeeexxxxxxxxx what do I do? Do I say anything. I don’t say anything, right?

Kara: It’s settled then, I’m not going to say anything

Kara: Do you think I should say anything?

Kara: Does Maggie think I should say anything?

Kara: I’m not going to say anything

Kara: ALLLLEEEEEEXXXXXXXXX. She’s so pretty.  

Alex: Well, do you think Lena like-likes you too?

Kara: YOU KNOW I CAN’T TELL. HUMANS ARE SO WEIRD.

Kara: Sometimes she bites her lips and my head goes funny, but I don’t know if her head goes funny.

Kara: I mean there’s no way her head can go funny, she’s always so smart.

Alex: Has she given any indication of her feelings?

Kara: I’m pretty sure the only way I would know for sure if a girl likes me is if she’d take her shirt off.

Kara: She has not taken her shirt off.

Alex: Yet

Alex: But yeah. Maybe try looking for some other context clues.

 

Lena handed the phone back numbly.

“Not to give too much away, but, as of yet, she has not found any other context clues. The good news is: she’s moved on to working through a gay panic on how to tell you though. The bad news is: the best odds are that it’s going to take six months to get there. If you're more inclined to wait, we can get you in on the betting pool. But for the completely selfish reason of safeguarding my own sanity, I'd prefer it if you helped hurry this process along.”

“Alex,” Lena cleared her throat, blushing lightly, “Are you recommending I go up to your sister and simply take my shirt off?”

“I’d prefer to not be involved in whatever the two of you do for foreplay,” Alex quipped back and Lena returned a weak smile. “Seriously though, whatever you do with the information is up to you. Just don’t tell Kara I showed you unless you’ve taken her out on a few successful dates first. And don’t tell me anything if it involves nudity. This is my baby sister, after all.”

“Right. Of course, I’ll keep this, all of this, quiet.”

“Third date conversation, no earlier.”

“You have my word.”

“Good,” Alex paused once more at the threshold of the apartment. “Look, Little Luthor. Regardless of how things go, if anyone gives you trouble, you let me know, and I’ll make their life hell. You’ll find my contact information in your phone. Now, try not to be too late getting into work. I don’t want you to set a bad standard on my account.” And, with a wink, Alex disappeared back into the hallway.

Lena closed the door and leaned against it. _Well_ , she thought, _that was certainly unexpected._

 

 ------------------

 

Maggie was working on dinner by the time Alex got home. “Hey babe. Your newest nerd journal showed up in the mail today.” The detective said by way of greeting, handing it over in exchange for a kiss.

“Ohhhhhh, I’ve been waiting on this one. There’s an article on novel alien chemical elements that I’ve been dying to read.”

“Fascinating,” Maggie deadpanned as she let Alex settle down onto the dining room table with her article. “Do you know what else is fascinating? Little Luthor’s contact information has been added to my phone.”

“Yeah, Winn did that.”

“Why did Winn do that?”

“Because he’s scared of me, so he does what I tell him to do. Even on the weekends.”

“You know _you_ could’ve done that. We see each other every day.”

“He was doing it on a few different phones. It’s easier this way.”

“I’m not sure if I’m more impressed with your efficiency, your laziness, or your circumvention of normal social interactions.”

“What can I say, I’m a catch all around.”

“I take it you took my advice and had a conversation with Lena like an adult?”

“Sawyer, I'm sure that I’ve no idea what you’re talking about.”

Maggie smiled softly at her secretly soft girlfriend and brought the food to the table, putting down two full plates. She kissed Alex on the head and sat down next to her. Alex looked up from her journal, “I presume this is to make up for the lack of food this morning?”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night, Danvers.”

“Oh, I could think of a few things to help with that.”

 

\-----------------------

 

Lena tried to be less suspicious the next day when Maggie Sawyer knocked on her door just before she had to rush out in the morning. “You’re here to arrest me because Alex was flirting with me yesterday, aren’t you?”

“Please, Little Luthor. I love Danvers, but she’s too much of a sweet gay mess to handle you. She gets all shy just trying to flirt with me.”  Maggie winked at Lena.

“I’m not even sure what to do with all of that. But I’ll be sure to let her know your opinions on the matter.”

“I always knew you’d like her better than me. You have that down-low, extreme-nerd thing in common. Don’t worry, I’ll grow on you.”

“Like a fungus, I’m sure. How can I help you, Detective Sawyer?”

“I’m just here to drop off a gift.”

“A gift?”

“Yeah, I’ve been winning so much money off of Danvers that I’m flush with cash. Figured I had you to thank.”

“That’s really not necessary, Detective.”

“Oh, hush. I came all the way up here. Do you know how many stairs there are between the ground floor and your fancy top-tower suite?”

“None if you take the elevator.”

“That’s beside the point. It would be rude not to take it at this point.” Maggie passed off a gift bag into the confused Luthor’s hand, clapped her on the shoulder, and took her leave, whistling jauntily as she sauntered back down the hall.

Lena set the bag on her kitchen counter while she finished getting ready. She waited until the last moment before peeking in to see what the Detective had brought her. Pulling aside the tissue paper, she uncovered a novelty T-Shirt declaring the wearer as “Supergirl’s #1 Fan,” and a small collection of panties ranging from boyshorts to lacey thongs, all emblazoned with the crest of the House of El, complete with a couple matching bras. She opened her phone with a click and scrolled to one of the contacts that had newly appeared in her phone. Clicking on Maggie’s name she shot of a quick text: “What. The. Fuck?”

The response was almost immediate. “Don’t worry, Little Luthor, you can thank me later.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading everyone. Next chapter will get back to the Lena / Kara interactions. It should also have a little bit more angst, but nothing like the first two chapters. It's generally 50% or more fluffy from here on out to wrap it all up.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So this has been half-written for awhile, and I decided to finally finish it and get it out to ya'll. There's an epilogue that I'm excited about that's mostly finished as well. Hopefully I can post that before another year is out and actually finish something.

Lena Luthor was having a bad (borderline awful) day. A call with her main Japanese investor had gone poorly; souring enough over a faulty delivery of a specialized, high-end algorithm-development program that the entire relationship was in jeopardy. She’d have to fly out tomorrow to attempt to repair it. Then, a product that was expected in stores next month hit a manufacturing snag that would set the launch back weeks. And, to cap it all off, an internal audit had found both that her head of the New York branch was embezzling money, and that money at a different branch was still flowing into a heretofore unheard-of compound that Lex had set up off the books. She had called in Alex on that last trouble and was thankful that their newfound trust and relationship kept that from spiraling into a legal nightmare that would once more cast doubt on her recovering Luthor reputation.

None of those business concerns even considered her own personal one. Kara was still doing something halfway between avoiding her and trying to flirt – the jury was still out on what, exactly this type of reaction meant. Their (mutual – perhaps) uncertainty was left to linger in the background but not entirely out of sight.  

But she was a Luthor, and her will was forged to be as powerful as a Kryptonian in full sunlight. So all of this was manageable (manageable enough) until James Olson swung by her office to find a way to make her day even _worse_. He came when Jess was on her break, all picture-perfect smiles, and calmly spoken words. It was a stark contrast to the way his pressed shirt pulled taut against intimidating muscles as he tightened his grip when they shook hands, standing too close to her person to be polite.

“I was hoping that I could have a word, Miss Luthor.” Lena was familiar with men like him, those who phrased their requests as statements rather than questions. She pulled her hand away and moved back to her chair, placing the desk between the two of them. With a feeling of exhaustion, she realized she’d have to fire someone else today as well; there was no way in hell he should have gotten all the way up here.

“Mr. Olson, right? I recognize you from Lex’s trial. I’m a little too busy at the moment for a photo op. My assistant could work to set up a more agreeable meeting time.”

“Then it’s lucky I’m not carrying a camera. I’m here to talk about Kara.”

This caught Lena’s attention. “What about Kara.”

“I think it would be in your best interest to stay away from her. You’ve gotten far too close.”

“I don’t particularly think this is your concern.”

“I’m making it my concern. I heard you know her secret. If you breathe a word of it to anyone else, it will be the last breath you will have the privilege to take. And if anyone else finds out, I will know exactly who to blame.”

It was trite really; the threat-speech equivalent of starting a presentation with a definition from Webster’s Dictionary.  After decades of the Luthors, years of being a controversial CEO, and nine of Lex’s assassination attempts, she was certainly more than capable of handling this entitled, idle twat herself. She knew words that would leave better men crying and fleeing her office. But before she had the chance to try, Alex was there, fully settled into her Agent Danvers persona, and James recoiled from Lena’s desk like a scared animal under her withering glare. “Out. We’ll talk about this later.” James half turned back towards Lena as if to deliver some sort of closing comment, but his mouth snapped shut when Alex took another step into the room and barked out, “Now, Olson.” He turned towards Alex as if to argue with her and noticed that she was well and truly furious. Prioritizing self-preservation, he fled the office without another word.

Alex still looked ticked off by the time she had dragged a chair over to the front of Lena’s desk and sat across from her, even with half of her attention focused on composing some sort of haughty text message to accomplish god knows what.

“He’s authentically scared of you.” Lena observed.

“Not scared enough, it seems,” she snapped back. The intimidating effect of her annoyance was somewhat reduced when she produced another fancy éclair box from god knows where and slammed it down on the desk between them. Lena vaguely wondered if she was being conditioned in some way, or if this was simply how Alex had learned to show people she cared after years of living with Kara. Rather than relinquishing it right away, she kept one finger possessively on the lid as she looked into Lena’s eyes. “I’m going to _assume_ that you have _good enough sense_ that you would have called me about that little episode if I hadn’t wander into the middle of it on my own.” It was delivered in a way that was grumpy, and terse, and absolutely filled to the brim with concern and something kind that the CEO didn’t quite have the words for. So, Lena promised that she would have, _of course_ , informed her and they both pretended that this was true.

Lena also realized that she hadn’t felt so cared for in years, but she wasn’t about to embarrass the agent by pointing that out.

Instead, they both coped with the moment in exactly the same way – by returning to a work-related task. Alex laid out a folder filled with information they had pulled on the facilities. She had walked Lena through their assumptions on the purpose of the buildings, and the contents of the storage facilities. Then she explained their planned course of infiltration, which was set to begin shortly, carried out by a different branch of the DEO that was closer to the site. She _somehow_ produced a second éclair and then wandered off with a promise to touch back later.

It had been…unusual, to say the least. And it was currently the only thing that kept the day from descending into something truly irredeemable. As it was, she had been able to refocus on the piles of paperwork that seemed to grow instead of shrink even as she tried to work through them. The manufacturing issue had spawned reels of problems that she needed to address, or at least push into the correct direction for Jess to handle. Time slipped away with the turning clock until her eyes were dry and her back was sore. But these were issues that could not wait until she returned from Japan.

Lena was so focused that she almost missed the soft swish of fabric and the quiet knock on her window. She looked up to see Supergirl standing there, or Kara, really. The hero was worrying and twisting at a corner of her cape, her eyes downcast, and her head tilted away to hide a nervous smile. Lena waved her in. “Just a moment. Make yourself at home but let me finish this contract before I lose my place.” Lena tried to put aside the small ball of hope and excitement so she could finish her current assignment. Just maybe the day was salvageable after all.

Kara nodded and let her work. When Lena had finished with a flourish of her signature and looked up, Kara had settled onto her side of the couch. It was odd, to see her in her Supergirl costume once more, occupying space as her friend. Lena toed off her heels and padded over barefoot to join her on the couch.

“Is something the matter, Kara?”

Kara shook her head and let out a barely audible, “No.”

“Then why do you look so concerned?”

“I wanted to talk to you about the whole ‘Supergirl’ thing.”

“Oh,” Lena exhaled heavily and tried not to look too disappointed. This wasn’t exactly the conversation she was hoping for when the other woman had alighted, nervously, on her balcony. She cast her eyes to the clock on the far wall in an almost longing way, thinking of her soft bed at home, and the tall stack of papers that still needed her attention before she could reach it. “Alright, what do you want to talk about.”

Kara looked up confused, and Lena couldn’t help but return a smile that was halfway between fond and exasperated. “I thought you’d have questions for me.”

“Well, this is actually the first time I’ve had a ‘secret identity reveal’ conversation. I’m sure you’re more experienced. I’ve had something of a trying day, so I’ll let you take the lead. How did you handle it with your other friends?”

“I’ve really only told Winn. Lucy too, I guess, but that hardly counts.”

“Why doesn’t Lucy count?” Lucy, Lena recalled, was quite attractive.

“Alex was being held hostage, it was a whole thing. I needed her to trust Supergirl, and I had hoped that her trust for me – Kara-me, that is –  would extend to her, but it wasn’t really about me in the same way.”

“James seemed to know as well.” Lena prompted gently, feeling uncomfortable at the omission.

The space between Kara’s eyebrow crinkled in confusion. “How do you know that James knows?”

Lena bit back the fear of being lied to and rubbed her eyes tiredly. “It’s been a long day. Can we have just one discussion for the time being.”

“Right, sorry. It’s just-“

“Kara, _please_.”

“Right, you’re right. I didn’t tell him. Kal did. He knew before we met.”

“Kal?”

“That’s Superman’s name. He goes by a different one on Earth, but that’s what I always knew him by. I didn’t really tell him either, clearly. He realized when I showed up here. And he told the Danvers. The Danvers told J’onn. Maggie sort of figured it out, though Alex confirmed it. Cat found out during a rescue, but we’re both still sort of pretending that I don’t know that she knows, so don’t mention that to Alex. Mon El found out at some point in the process of setting up his secret identity; his planet was a sister to mine so he’s got better facial recognition for Kryptonians and was able to identify me pretty easily. And I told Winn.”

“And me.”

“And you.”

There was a moment of silence where Kara picked back up with fidgeting with her cape.

“Why did you tell Winn?”

“It was right before or right after I came out as Supergirl, depending on how you count it; Winn actually helped with that. He’s quite handy with a sewing machine.” Lena kept her own council on the costume at this point. Derived from L-Corp’s work on better materials on super suits was a series of concept sketches on improvements for the current design that she was planning to introduce at a less tense moment. “It was the day after I saved the plane. It was my first save. Alex was on it. I couldn’t let it go down. And she was so mad at me for exposing myself. But I was so excited, and I didn’t have anyone else to talk to so I took him to the roof of CatCo and back flipped off of it.”

Lena felt an uncomfortable swoop in her stomach at the thought of Kara coming out to her in a similar way. She would have been terrified. “That’s certainly one way to do it.”

 “I had wanted to tell you in a better way. I didn’t mean to tell you while I was drunk.”

“You had thought about it before that night?”

Kara nodded assuredly and Lena tried to put faith in that gesture. “I was working on a plan for it. I was thinking of doing it via balloons somehow. I feel like it’s really hard to be mad when there are balloons.”

“You were worried I’d be mad?” She asked, though it was phrased as more of a statement than a question.

“Well, aren’t you?”

“I’m not sure.” Lena cocked her head to the side and thought about it, trying to be more honest with herself. “No, that’s not quite true. I am upset. I don’t know if _mad_ is the right word for it. And I’m just not sure that I have any right to be either way, really.”

Kara was quiet a moment, mulling over her words and trying to piece them together the right way. “For what it’s worth, I promise I didn’t like lying to you. I know trust is a big thing to you. It makes sense for you to be upset about that. And I’m really _truly_ sorry about it.”

Lena couldn’t help a wry smile at that as she mentally paged back through the reasons Kara gave for all the times she had left abruptly, shown up late, or canceled plans. No, it was perfectly clear by the quality of her excuses that she didn’t take any pleasure in the deception. She really should have seen it earlier. “I know. I do. And it seems that just about everyone who knows, knows for a reason. I don’t think this is really a right or a wrong thing, keeping it from me, and maybe my emotions just have to catch up with the logic. It’s not like you didn’t have the right to this secret, and I can see that none of this is easy for you.”

“That’s true, but you’re special to me. That felt like reason enough. And I feel awful that that drunken mess was the way it happened.”

Lena nodded and a bit of warmth grew in the center of her chest to war against the self-consciousness, twisted feeling pulling at the inside of her ribs. “You know; I remember when I came out to my best friend in college. Jack was really upset at first, and he had sulked about it. So, I sat him down and told him that this thing was really about me, not him, and he didn’t get to be upset that I came around to it on my own time. He didn’t get a say in how comfortable I ought to have been, or how cavalier I should have treated it in telling him sooner, because he didn’t know enough about my history to make that call.”

Kara blew out a puff of air and Lena watched as it unsettled some of the papers on the coffee table. “This is a little different than coming out, not to take away from your story. You didn’t have to lie to Jack so much when you were in the closet.”

“That’s only somewhat true. I made mistakes. I was so young so I let him believe some things that weren’t honest; about myself, and about the possibility of us. I never encouraged it, but I never tried too hard to discourage it either. I let him stand for something I wasn’t sure if I wanted but that I knew for certain I could not have or offer. I know why it hurt him, and I know there were things I should have done differently. Even still, I think he should have handled it better. But we recovered from that and moved on. I do need some time, Kara. Just to sort through my own feelings on the matter and stitch your two identities together in my head. But it’s not going to change how I feel about you.” Lena reached out and grabbed Kara’s hand as she said this, trying to convey the full range of her feelings in the tentative connection. Kara squeezed back gently and gave her the first real smile of the evening. “And I want you to know that I appreciate you letting me know you in this way.”

“I can live with that. I’m here, you know; if you have any questions.”

“I will, but not now. I do actually need to get some more work done so I can get a little bit of sleep tonight before my flight tomorrow.”

“Your flight?”

“It seems that I need to go to Japan.”

“Oh.” Kara seemed to be put out by the news and Lena could almost see her warring with herself over offering to accompany her.

“It will only be for a few days, a week at most. Lunch when I get back?”

That suggestion did earn her a full Sunny-(Kara)-D smile that warmed the room and eased some tension out of Lena’s tired shoulders. Kara gave a firm nod. “Absolutely!”

 

Unfortunately, her trip got extended from a few days to two weeks. To make matters worse, halfway through, Winn (who had also been added to her phone, despite the fact that she hadn’t met him more than a handful of times. He was nice enough in a too-nerdy to-be-a-threat sort of way) had texted her to let her know that Kara would be MIA on account of her slipping into a different multiverse for an undetermined period of time.

So, alright, sure, the confirmation of the multiverse theory was a nice consolation prize. But Kara was still officially ‘sick’ by the time Lena made it back state-side, and J’onn was still publicly masquerading as Supergirl. By this point, the anger had simmered and settled before bleeding away like a bad poison, and all Lena really wanted to do was watch movies with her best friend, and complain about the stiff-necked, douche-canoe investors that had been filling her meetings from morning through night. She wanted to hear about Krypton and talk about ways to keep Kara safer when she was doing her duty to the city. But, besides taking cryptic notes in a shorthand language of her own invention, and tending to the projects contracted through the DEO, all Lena could do was wait.

But the conversations left unsaid between herself and Kara gnawed at her as doubt settled in, especially as her extended stay stretched out to a fully month.

A focus on other aspects of her personal life helped. Alex and Maggie had taken to dropping in on her in Kara’s absence, which was both greatly appreciate and barely tolerated. Alex would come in with morning coffee and pastries, or send lackeys in to do the same. Maggie would come by to drag her off to try new vegan restaurants for lunch. Alex would argue her way into her lab at least one afternoon a week and bother her with unsolicited (and obnoxiously useful) recommendations until she agreed to take it a little easier and slow down sometimes. This backfired when Winn started tagging along, and he and Lena would end up in deep conversations about different tech. Either way, one of them would drag her home for dinner or out for drinks at least two evenings during the week. It was endearing, and overbearing, and Lena allowed it because she had no idea how else to manage their constant interruptions. The fact that it calmed the worry gnawing at her stomach was something she refused to fully acknowledge.

Lena had also found herself able and willing to set some time aside to address some relationships she had been neglecting since moving from Metropolis. She made plans to visit Jack for a long afternoon and even took some time to review some of his concept drawings. And she had a very promising conversation with Sam, her old friend from college, that may have netted her a new CFO to help sort out any additional ‘accounting mishaps’ lurking in the company files. To help seal the deal, she found herself in the middle of tracking down the principals from a number of elite elementary schools in the area about substantial donations, with the implication that they would ‘seriously consider’ making space for the attendance of her godchild. And okay, maybe she had taken that too far when she had developed a ranking matrix and pinned the top selections to the board on the side of her office, preparing like she was about to engage in a hostile takeover. But before she knew it, Maggie had returned to whisk her away to try vegan hamburgers from the south side market.

Maggie was halfway through a greasy beet burger and a side of sweet potato fries when she noticed Lena’s staring. “Little Luthor, you’ve barely taken a bite of your burger. What are you going to do when Little D returns? You’ll starve at this pace. There’s just the fast and the hungry with her around.”

“About that?”

“Her appetite?” Maggie asked with an exaggerated waggle for her eyebrows, “for delectable things to eat out?”

Lena groaned dropped her head into her hands, hiding a small smile, in spite of herself. “Not about that, about this?”

“This? Well, she complains about vegan food, but I’ve seen her eat actual bird seed when she got, let’s say, peckish, so she’d choke it down. If you feed her enough, you’d barely be able to hear her complain about it even.”

“No. I mean us. And Alex. And everyone else who keeps dropping in.”

“Ah, what about it?”

“What, ran out of snide comments.”

“Just waiting for you to give me more material to work off of.”

“So, is this behavior contingent on me dating Kara?”

“Little Luthor, don’t be an idiot. You already are dating Kara. If you just let her know, you can get to the kinky stuff.”

Lena out right groaned, “What did I do to deserve you.”

“I dunno. But it must’ve been something pretty great.”

“I was actually thinking it was penance for some terrible wrong.”

“Nah. The way I measure it, Alex and I move into your apartment building the moment you cure world hunger, and into your spare room the day you manage world peace.”

“Jesus Christ.”

“Just remember to soundproof them before we get there, Alex can get loud once we get going.”

“Please stop.”

“I know it can be hard to imagine, she considers herself the strong and silent type.”

“I’m begging you.”

“But the woman is used to shouting commands, let’s leave it at that.”

“And this is how I die.”

Maggie kept a straight face for a moment longer, then snorted so loud that half the patrons in the restaurant looked over in concern while Lena burned with shame. “Seriously though, nothing but the dirty stuff will change when you crazy kids make it official.”

“And what if it doesn’t work out?”

“We’ll still be around.”

“What if it’s ugly?”

“Then your feelings are going to be hurt for a little while because that’s how love goes when it gets rough sometime. And you’ll need a drinking buddy, and Kara will need someone to eat ice cream with, and Alex and I believe in balance in all things so that dichotomy will work well for us.”

“I’m serious.”

“So am I Lean. Look, we all still like James even though he and Kara broke up. Granted, Alex has frozen his Guardian suit for some reason, but that was recent so I’m sure it’s unrelated. He’s still invited to drinks though, and game nights. Alex met up with him for a hot dog eating contest yesterday when they were both missing Kara a little more than usual. We care about you now. It’s a somewhat permanent state. Welcome to the in club.”

“Wait, James is the Guardian?”

“Is that all you took away from this conversation?”

“Right. What if I react badly when it goes south?”

“If.”

“When. Things always go wrong, maybe to smaller and lesser degrees. But I’m not sure how to recover from those and right the ship, because I don’t know how to manage those sorts of feelings properly.”

“Yeah, neither does Alex, the perfect moron. You’ve got great company here, and lots of people who will talk you back straight. Or gay. You know, just generally getting your mind right.”

Lena hummed uncertainly and chewed softly at the edge of her burger. “I like this. Tell Alex and I’ll kill you. But I like having you guys around worrying about me. Dating Kara feels like I’m not just gambling on the most important relationship to me, but all these secondary ones that are starting to matter as well.”

“Well maybe you need time then. I know we’re pushy, but I want you to know that that’s okay too.”

“That’s the advice? Not jump in with both feet first, tiger? That seems more your speed.”

Maggie snorted again and Lena tried to make peace with the fact that she had a friend who snorted, publically. “I think deep down inside I know you’re going to have to write a report of pros and cons with ten-year projections for most likely scenarios before you make any moves. But want my real advice?”

“I’d like to think I won’t have a choice.”

“True enough. I think you should enjoy spending time with us. And I think you should go back to spending time with friends who you feel are yours first, like this Sam and Jack you bring up from time to time. Invite them down here and bring them out with us as well. Then I think you should go to therapy because you’ve got some shit to work through, Luthor.”

“Excuse me. I am more than strong enough to-“

“It’s not about strength.” Maggie felt around for her wallet, and pulled a business card from the folds, “Here, she’s great. I still go to her weekly. Great with the gays, real alright on the alien stuff too. Her NDA is signed for Kara’s second job so you can work through your feelings on that too. It’s not a weakness to want to get your mind right.”

“Right,” Lena swallowed past a lump in her throat, “right, I didn’t mean anything by it, but I just don’t know if it’s right for me.”

“Can you spare an hour just one week?”

“Perhaps.”

“Then give her a call and find out for sure. You might find yourself surprised.”

“I don’t know.”

“Oh, come on. What’s the worst that can happen?”

“A tabloid magazine finds out and runs an article on how I’m bordering on psychosis.”

“Then you make a grand speech about how self-care and emotional resilience is important and how we shouldn’t belittle mental illness and prioritizing ourselves when we need someone to talk to matters and you save hundreds or thousands of lives because you’re a lesbian fucking icon and more people will see that this sort of stuff is okay. And best case scenario, the Doc helps you work through the feelings that hold you back from feeling happy, from being present, from giving more of yourself to other people, and from asking for help when you need it.”

Lena nodded uneasily, her appetite full and truly gone by this point. Maggie seemed to pick up on the mood and began to pick off pieces of her uneaten French fries. She turned the card over a few times in her hands, her thumb running across the back of the glossy words. “I’ll think about it.”

 “That’s the spirit!”

\----

Lena did go to therapy. It was awful, and hard, and she stonewalled the therapist a lot. But she came back next week, and the one after. After that, she simply stopped counting the visits.

Kara came back as well. They talked and Lena took the time she needed for herself. They settled back into a warm friendship, with lunches and dinners, rescues and late night movies that ended in cuddles. And it felt so comfortable that when Lena finally did decide that she was ready for the next step, she got a bit wine drunk at a movie night and had a sloppy make out session with Kara that involved her taking off her shirt to show Kara the bra with her crest. Kara had reacted so well that she had promptly broke the couch, the coffee table, and put a hole in the wall. Then she had fled the trail of destruction, ruining the large TV and the metal balcony rail as she sped to the green room in the DEO until she could calm herself down. 

To manage this, Kara and Lena avoided being in the same room as each other for a week out of embarrassment. Because sometimes, even when you’re working on taking care of yourself, and even when you have the support you need, it can be hard to face the big things.

Alex and Maggie had stepped back to give them time. But when this happened, they realized it was time to step back in.

\----

There was a knock at the door.

“Ohh! Do you think it’s the pizza or the Chinese food? I’ll get it!” Kara bounced over to the door and popped it open with a smile. Her face morphed from excited to happy-shocked when she didn’t find Yang, Carl, Tiffany, Lin, Samuel, or Arnold (the usual cast of delivery persons at Alex’s apartment, or, as Kara preferred to think of them, beautiful heaven sent angels).

Lena looked equally surprised.

“Lena!” Kara’s voice squeaked and she cleared her voice before overcompensating and continuing in a much deeper one, “what are you doing here?”

“Alex said she had something important she needed to show me and to come over directly after work.”

Kara turned around and the both of them looked at Alex and Maggie with deep suspicion.

“Oh darn,” Maggie said with a clearly faked tone of disappointment as she checked her completely blank cellphone screen, “would you look at that. It seems like the precinct needs me.”

“Oh no,” Alex echoed, as she clearly scrolled through Facebook on her own cellphone, “looks like I’m needed at the DEO as well.”

“It must be an emergency big enough to need both of us.”

“But definitely small enough to not need Supergirl.”

“What are the chances?”

“You never can tell in this city; I guess we will have to raincheck with Kara.”

“Yupp. It’s lucky that Lena showed up _by complete coincidence_ to help keep her company and eat all the food we just ordered.” They both grabbed their leather jackets in loose synchronization before moving from the apartment in such a way that they pushed Lena Luthor inside and closed the door tightly shut behind them.

“Subtle.” Lena deadpanned, looking towards Kara with shy smile. “It’s good to see you.”

“It’s good to see you too,” Kara said, blushing. “I – I’ve been meaning to stop by to come tell you something.”

Lena looked at Kara. The alien was shuffling her feet so nervous that when she bounced on her toes she floated just a hair off of the ground. Lena smiled, it was time. “I know. Do you think, maybe, we can get a coffee sometime?”

“Ohhh and pastries?”

“Yes, and pastries. But, um, as a date?”

And Kara gave her another one of those Sunny-D smiles and leaned in to kiss her again.


End file.
